An incident of police brutality occurred once again when a pregnant woman was kicked from a bike by a cop, resulting in her death.
This incident happened in Tamil Nadu on the evening of March 6, 2018. Thirty-year-old Usha was riding a bike with her husband. Since Raja (the husband) wasn’t wearing a helmet, the cop (named Kamaraj) had requested them to stop. However, Raja didn’t stop and Kamaraj pursued them on his bike. After closing in on Raja and Usha’s bike, he kicked the vehicle, making Raja lose control of the bike and fall down hard on the street.
Usha, who was four-months pregnant, unfortunately died on the spot. The couple were taken to a close-by hospital where the doctor proclaimed her dead.
Instantly, the news spread like wildfire and more than 3,000 protestors gathered on the street to protest against police brutality. After some time, the crowd began pelting stones at the police. The police had to lathi-charge the crowd to scatter them. Afterwards, police authorities guaranteed them that the person responsible would be arrested.
Kamaraj has now been arrested and charged with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”. Culpable homicide refers to actions that lead to the death of an individual, but without the intention of killing. While homicide can lead to life imprisonment, culpable homicide has a maximum term of 10 years.
This isn’t the first case of police brutality over minor issues. In November 2017, a traffic inspector hit a biker with a lathi for not wearing a helmet. In every such case, we see the wrong means being used to uphold the law.
It must be clarified that even if someone violates traffic rules, it should not result in their getting hit by a lathi or their vehicle getting kicked. What will happen next? Will we now be shot for not paying taxes? Justice needs the punishment to suit the crime. Any deviation from that is violence and it is high time our law enforcement officers understood that.
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